This one off drama from BBC One was filmed locally to me and yet it didn’t feel familiar at all. I’m sure the book that this is based on is much better than the production that we were shown tonight (Monday 31st August).

The story is about the National Gallery in London becoming flooded and the pictures being “evacuated”, as they actually were during the war, to a small town in North Wales called Manod. The works of art were kept in an old slate mine up in the mountains.

The production crew obviously didn’t realise that in North Wales we have a different dialect to that of South Wales. Getting Eve Myles (of Torchwood fame) to play a school teacher was a great coup, but to transform the entire population of that school from North to South Wales was a big mistake.

This seems to me like poor planning on the production company’s part. Surely they could have made a bit more effort in finding out about the town of Manod?

Apart from that the program was an OK watch. Not spectacular by a long shot. Definitely not up to the standard I would expect from the BBC. Trevor Eve made an excellent job of his character I thought. He was an a nice chap too according to a friend of mine who would pass him daily whilst out walking, albeit from the comfort of Mr Eve’s BMW.

It’s great that new drama comes to our screens but if they’re not going to make an effort to get things right why bother at all. Turning North Walians in to South Walians is like setting Eastenders in Newcastle. It just doesn’t work.

Right, that’s my rant over, normal service shall resume now.